Question of the Week, El Clasico: What Could Real Madrid Have Done Differently?

Greetings from the land of sand. This is the weekly segment here on Managing Madrid where I walk around my international campus and ask random people of different backgrounds and football loyalties questions about the footballing world and Real Madrid.

El Clasico has come and gone and left many madridistas disappointed. As Gabe highlighted in his recap, Lady Luck had a say (more like a shout), but Barcelona won, and that's where credit is due.

But a lot of us clad in white are wondering whether Real Madrid should of done something differently, and whether this would have changed the outcome. Although I know we would all love to shove it aside, sometimes it's good to speak your mind. And what better place than in a community of fellow madridistas?

So the question this week: What could Real Madrid have done differently during El Clasico?

"After going 1-0 up they should have kept the ball more and kept pressuring Barca which would have lead them to making mistakes and giving them opportunities to score more."

-Saker, Palestine, Barcelona

"They didn't do anything wrong. They did exactly what they should have done, score an early goal."

-Phillip, Lebanon, AC Milan

"[Real Madrid] were not calm. One they got the ball, they panicked and just wanted to pass. They need to think and then pass like most other games. Plus Mourinho's stubbornness on [keeping] Ronaldo [in] was not good as well."

-Chan, South Korea, Real Madrid

"I think they pressured too much early on and got tired, but if they didn't Barca, [Barcelona] would have scored even more. So basically there's no hope of beating Barca until you can find the right balance of how much to pressure while still lasting the 90 minutes. But Mourinho will eventually figure it out."

-Yusuf, Ethiopia, AC Milan

"[Real Madrid should have] kept a cool head, not gotten overconfident, and scored another [goal] as soon as possible after they had their 1-0 lead."

-Mohamed, Egypt, Chelsea

"Real Madrid shouldn't have given up after that second goal. The trick to dominating a match is controlling the middle so if Real Madrid had done that than things might have been a little different."

-Mustafa, Egypt, Barcelona

"The defensive end of Madrid should have been more awake [because] a lot of the games' goals were [due to] counter attacks and defensive mistakes. I believe that Coentrao and Marcelo were caught up too often [...] Barca maintained a good defensive game and attacking game because they had three defenders back most of the time and a midfielder or two who would come back. It is almost rare that [their] back line was out of position. The biggest mistake Madrid did was playing more attack than defense. Not that they didn't try, but it was very unorganized in a sense."

-Omar, Egypt, Real Madrid

^^Personally I would have to agree. Many factors contributed to the loss, but that sleep-like trance and "here we go again" attitude didn't help the result.

So madridistas...what are your thoughts? I know the match has already passed, but it's nice to get some closure. Speak your mind and share your opinions and/or vent hysterically in the comments. But never forget this:

HALA MADRID!